Dive teams search two nearby reservoirs for evidence

Investigators searched the grass around the home of Leila Fowler with metal detectors, one week after the 8-year-old was found dead.

Investigators said they were making progress, but couldn't name any suspects one week after 8-year-old Leila Fowler was discovered stabbed multiple times inside her home.

Dive teams from the Calaveras County Sheriff's department and the Stanislaus County Sheriff's department searched two reservoirs near the home where Fowler was murdered. The Calaveras County Sheriff's department has not said if the the underwater search turned up any evidence.

Crime scene investigators waved metal detectors over tall grass surrounding the home in the Rancho Calaveras subdivision, while other investigators retrieved evidence from inside the house.

“We are a week into this, but we want to do everything we can to catch the right person and to have a case that will stand up in court,” said Sgt. Chris Hewitt, of the Calaveras County Sheriff's Office.

Sheriff's deputies said it was still too early to say whether the girl was killed in a random crime, or whether the killer was associated with the family in some way.

Deputies said Leila was discovered by her 12-year-old stepbrother on April 27 after he confronted an intruder inside the home on Rippon Road.

The two were home alone while their parents were at a Little League game, authorities said.

The brother described the intruder as a muscular man with long gray hair.

One neighbor, who originally told authorities he or she saw a man running from the home, has since been discredited by deputies.

“This is the murder of an 8-year-old girl. It’s a heinous crime. We have to be very thorough in our investigative procedures. We have to make sure that when we do make an arrest, we have a case that is prosecutable,” Hewitt said.

Police from neighboring agencies canvassed the area around the home for the second time since the homicide.

Officers were trying to contact nearly 300 homeowners in the area to see if anyone had any new information or remembered seeing anything the day of the slaying,

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